Associated with Sabarimala since the 1990s, Kumar was aware that the sanctum sanctorum, including the Dwarapalaka idols, had been gold-plated during the 1998-99 period: Reports
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold scam arrested former executive officer Sudheesh Kumar on Saturday.
Kumar was questioned at the Crime Branch office before his arrest. He is accused of concealing the fact that the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols were gold-plated, instead documenting them as copper sheets in the temple's official records.
Associated with Sabarimala since the 1990s, Kumar was aware that the sanctum sanctorum, including the Dwarapalaka idols, had been gold-plated during the 1998-99 period.
In 2019, when the Dwarapalaka plates were handed over to the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potty, for gold plating, Kumar allegedly recorded them as copper plates, allowing the accused to later remove the existing gold plating.
Kumar is the third accused to be arrested in the case. Previously, Unnikrishnan Potty and former administrative officer B Murari Babu were also arrested by the SIT.
Kumar will be produced before the Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court later.
Meanwhile, in a related development, the SIT grilled one Vasudevan, a close aide of Unnikrishnan Potty. According to the probe team, Vasudevan had kept the additional gold-clad pedestal of the Dwarapalaka idols in his custody, which were later seized from the house of Potty's relative in Thiruvananthapuram last month.
The SIT is currently probing two cases connected with the loss of gold from Dwarapalaka idols and from the door frames of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum), which were handed over to Potty for electroplating in 2019. The SIT investigation is being monitored by the Kerala High Court.
